170 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



not come so quickly into bearing will not pay expenses until 

 1897, when bush-fruit of all kinds should give a good profit. 

 From a field planted with half-standard or standard trees, Black 

 Currants and Strawberries, the net return should be £20 per 

 acre, and the average annual return for mixed plantations may 

 be taken at that amount, though in some seasons it would be far 

 more. 



General Remarks. — I have now, as far as time and space will 

 permit, touched briefly on some of the main points connected 

 with fruit-growing on a large scale, though I have omitted the 

 subjects of Bees, and Osier-growing. Both of these should be 

 adjuncts to a large fruit-farm. Nature requires assistance in 

 the fertilisation of blossom where large tracts of fruit are planted ; 

 the Bees will do this, and a profit should also be made from the 

 honey. Osiers can be grown on the damp wet spots, and will 

 come in for basket-making, and the grower will find that it is 

 far cheaper to grow his own Osiers and make them into baskets 

 than to buy baskets. 



If we turn to the Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom, 

 we find that the acreage of orchards, arable or grass land used 

 also for fruit-trees, in Great Britain, was in 1878, 165,415 acres ; 

 in 1892, 208,950 acres. Market gardens, in 1878, 37,273 acres ; 

 in 1892, 83,081 acres. 



Again, if we refer to the Trade Beturns, we find that the 

 imports of fruit from foreign countries increase each year. Take, 

 for example, the imports of Apples and Plums in August 1893 

 and August 1894 : — 



August 1893 August 1894 



Apples . . 223,923 bushels 338,310 bushels 

 Plums . . 263,972 „ 422,866 



The Apple crop in this country being short this year, the 

 increase in the import of Apples is not to be wondered at ; but 

 when we see the enormous increase in the total quantity of 

 Plums imported, in spite of the heavy crop in this country, with 

 low prices, how can it pay the foreigner to ship them at a profit ? 

 The answer is, because the railway companies favour the 

 foreigner to such an extent that he can put his goods on the 

 English market at less expense than the home grower can. A 

 Times correspondent gives excellent proof of the systematic 

 manner in which the railway companies foster the Continental 



